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After months of marital bliss, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton are still discovering and adjusting to their life together. Settled in their new home, everything appears to be perfect … except in the middle of the night when, in darkest shadows of her subconscious, a deep secret from Jessica’s past creeps to the surface to make her strike out at Murphy.

About A Fine Year for Murder

After months of marital bliss, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton are still discovering and adjusting to their life together. Settled in their new home, everything appears to be perfect … except in the middle of the night when, in darkest shadows of her subconscious, a deep secret from Jessica’s past creeps to the surface to make her strike out at Murphy.

When investigative journalist Dallas Walker tells the couple about her latest case, known as the Pine Bridge Massacre, they realize Jessica may have witnessed the murder of a family living near a winery owned by distant relatives she was visiting and suppressed the memory.

Determined to uncover the truth and find justice for the murder victims, Jessica and Murphy return to the scene of the crime with Dallas Walker, a spunky bull-headed Texan. Can this family reunion bring closure for a community touched by tragedy or will this prickly get-together bring an end to the Thorny Rose couple?

My Thoughts

A Fine Year for Murder is an excellent novel! It was so full of suspense, mystery and murder. Lauren spins an excellent web where you never really know what to expect next.

In the beginning, my favourite characters Jessica and Murphy are starting to see that something is not quite right. Jessica seems to be suffering from something in her past and it is something that she is not quite aware of yet. It is beginning to cause a strain at times in their relationship. When she finds out about a new investigation into the Pine Bridge Massacre, her whole world is turned upside down. She realizes that she may have been a witness to a brutal murder at the winery her family owns. It was so traumatizing that she may have suppressed every memory of it.

Jessica knows she needs to uncover the truth to help her own mental health and to save her marriage. They head down to the crime scene and begin their own investigation into the crime. This is when the case really becomes bizarre. They are met with resistance, they uncover evidence and become targets. In the middle of this is Jessica’s wacky family who may have many secrets of their own they are hiding!

The plot unfolds amazingly and will blow your mind! The ending was not anything close to what I possibly expected to happen!! But it was exciting and amazing at the same time. This is an amazing novel that you will want to re-read over and over again. A definite must read!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

In How To Find Your Dream Dog, bringing a new dog into the household should be one of life’s happiest events.

About How To Find Your Dream Dog

Bringing a new dog into the household should be one of life’s happiest events. The process always starts with excitement and high expectations. Too often, though, it ends in disappointment. The new puppy wakes everyone three times a night, gnaws on furniture, piddles everywhere, knocks the children down. The new adolescent dog is too wild. The new adult dog growls at your neighbors. And where did all this dog hair come from?

Most people spend hours researching a new mattress, days researching a new car, and weeks researching a new home or job. Yet for a new dog, a companion for the next 10-15 years, the most they do is visit the nearest shelter or pet shop and buy whatever looks cute and appealing. It’s no wonder they end up disappointed.

Whether you are looking for a purebred puppy or a charming mixed-breed, the type of dog you bring into your home matters. A quiet owner will struggle to keep up with a high-energy labrador mix, for instance, while an active outdoor family will be impatient with a snoozy bulldog. And finding the right kind of dog means becoming the right kind of owner—a task that takes some forethought and planning.

How To Find Your Dream Dog is here to fix the disconnect of dog ownership. It walks you step-by-step through the process of choosing the right type of dog for you—not only exploring the canine qualities that can determine your perfect puppy, adolescent, or adult dog, but also assessing your lifestyle to make sure you’re a good match for the dog, too. The book also looks at good (and bad) sources for finding healthy and sound pet dogs, gives guidelines for evaluating individual puppies, and warns of some red flags to watch out for during your dog search. With this guidebook in hand, you can be confident that the next puppy or dog you bring home will be the right companion and friend for you for the rest of its days.

?Dixie Tenny is a Certified Training Partner with the Karen Pryor Academy of Animal Training and Behavior. During her 30+ years spent working with people and their pets, she has seen again and again how mismatches between dog and owner can create “behavior problems” that never would have happened if the right dog had been matched to the right owner in the first place. She wrote this book to help puppy buyers and dog adopters start out on the best possible foot with their new pet dogs, and stay on that path for years to come. If you’re a true dog lover then you may have considered owning a doggy daycare. If you haven’t already considered it, you should definitely check it out!

My Thoughts

When we purchased our dog we knew we wanted a small breed due to the size of our home but other than that our decision was mostly impulsive. My husband came home with a dog for Valentine’s Day to surprise me and our son! While it was a great decision in the long run, the first months were very hard. I spent nights laying on the floor with her not sure how to comfort her as she cried at night.

I loved how this book started out, explaining about there is a perfect match between dog and humans but you need to know and learn what it is. Those cute little puppies can have different temperaments and grow up to be quite differently. Understanding your needs, expectations and the breed personality is so important. It will save you and the dog heartbreak as well as unnecessary dog drop offs at shelters.

This book gets down to the nitty gritty on everything you need to know about buying a puppy or older dog. She doesn’t sugar coat the hard parts but instead makes you understand the commitment that this will be. She helps you figure out what breed matches your lifestyle and expectations as well as your home life. She teaches you about what to watch out for in breeds and where the best places to purchase a puppy is from.

How To Find Your Dream Dog should be a must read book for all individuals and families who are looking to expand their family with a dog. This should never be an impulsive decision, instead a lot of research, thought and meeting the animal should go into place. She takes all the guess work out of this for you – and you can tell she knows what she is talking about!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

Dixie’s professional credentials include trainer certifications from the prestigious Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior, and the Association for Pet Dog Trainers. Dixie formed her own business, Human-Animal Learning Opportunities, LLC (HALO) in 2013. HALO hosts continuing education seminars for dog trainers.

Dixie has lived with a wide range of dogs over the years including mixed breeds, Australian Shepherds, Welsh and Cairn terriers, and more. While in Seattle, Dixie raised a labrador puppy for Canine Companions for Independence, Inc. (CCI). Currently Dixie lives with a Beauceron and an elderly Papillon, as well as four cats. When not doing things related to animals, she reads widely, enjoys the company of her three grown children, follows baseball and English Premier League football, and travels the world.

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In Let’s Try This Again we have one girl and two guys.  It’s complicated. And hot.

About Let’s Try This Again

First there is Isaac, the ex-boyfriend who threatens her move to a sunny new life on the west coast when he suddenly comes back into the picture.  The chemistry is intoxicating and Josie starts eating, breathing, and sleeping with him again until the move.  Things are hard enough saying goodbye to her childhood home and very best friends, but when Isaac makes it seem like he might actually want her to stay, Josie wonders if she’s giving up on him too quickly.

Josie takes the plunge and moves to California.

Then comes Carter. Sweet, doting – and, oh my god! – former boy band heartthrob, Carter. Josie’s new life falls into place, with new friends and a job working as the personal assistant for Carter as he plans the re-launch of his career. When it seems like there might be something between Josie and her new boss, she can’t help but hold back in fear of crossing a line and, worse yet, getting her heart crushed.  Once again.

What spirals into a complicated, heart wrenching, unexpected love triangle forces Josie to face a decision that she is not sure she can make.  Carter or Isaac.  Or – who knows?

It’s Sex in the City meets Bridget Jones Diary under the Hollywood sign.  A masterful debut novel of love, sex and rock & roll in the New Adult genre.

My Thoughts

Oh my goodness – Let’s Try This Again is hilarious, honest, emotional and full of hope. We have Josie, who is like your best friend. The one you love with all your heart but who makes the same bad decisions over and over again. You want nothing more than the absolute best for her but can’t help her when she makes the same decisions over and over again (like going back to the bad ex-boyfriend who makes her feel used and unloved). You just have to be there for them with the ice cream and wine. And that’s what her friends do in this hilarious novel.

Just when you think she can’t make any more bad decisions when it comes to her ex, Josie decides to move to California. Some of this was to make him jealous and another part for a fresh start for her. This is when it gets really steamy (and a tad bit confusing and fun!). She meets her teenage crush, Carter, and actually begins to work for him. This slowly becomes a little bit  more until a romance emerges. A huge part of me kept rooting for her and Carter – he seemed so perfect for her! But she feels conflicted every step of the way. Carter and Isaac. And then back again.

This novel was awesome – fun, sexy and felt like a conversation with your best friend. Hearing it described as Sex in the City meets Bridget Jones Diary is the exact way I would describe it. If you are a huge fan of those movies, you will love Josie and the adventure she gets herself in. A definite great read that you will fall in love with over and over again.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo books and iTunes.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Jordyn Woodtke is an exceedingly gifted new author who is destined to take the New Adult genre by storm with her debut novel entitled Let’s Try This Again.

A graduate of NYU, she majored in screenwriting with a minor in bottomless brunching, skills she took with her when she moved to Los Angeles to follow her dream of becoming a writer. Jordyn started writing poetry and plays in high school, garnering prestigious awards and accolades from the Hartford Stage, Drexel University, the Waterbury Young Playwrights Festival and the national Scholastic Art & Writing awards, among others.

Now, on any given afternoon you are likely to find Jordyn petting random dogs on her street, noshing at any of the numerous brunch spots in LA, or bingeing Netflix on her couch. She’s grateful and dedicated to the art of storytelling because it lets her say all the things she wished she’d said when she had the chance.

And if Let’s Try This Again is any indicator of future success, Jordyn will get to keep saying them for a long, long time.  

Connect with Jordyn on her website, Twitter and Instagram.

Cinematic Scene

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A remote summer camp becomes a lurid crime scene when the bodies of two teenagers are found in a bloody, real-life rendering of a classic Grimm’s fairy tale.

About Grimm Woods

A remote summer camp becomes a lurid crime scene when the bodies of two teenagers are found in a bloody, real-life rendering of a classic Grimm’s fairy tale. Trapped in the wilderness, the remaining counselors must follow a trail of dark children’s fables in order to outwit a psychopath and save the dwindling survivors before falling prey to their own gruesome endings.

Drawing on the grisly, uncensored details of history’s most famous fairy tales, Grimm Woods is a heart-pounding thriller about a deranged killer who uses traditional children’s stories as tropes in elaborate murders. Set against the backdrop of modern-day Michigan, it’s a journey through the mind of a dangerous zealot and a shocking glimpse into the bedtime stories you thought you knew.

My Thoughts

A horrifying, suspenseful novel that has some of the most famous fairy tales at the heart of the story. I knew most fairy tales have a more twisted and scary original version but I never realized how much so! I actually had to look some of them up after this novel and I was a bit shocked. He wove these fairy tales so well into the story with just enough history and just enough explanation on how each fairy tale related to the murder. You can fully appreciate the amount of research and planning that this must have taken to work out the plot in this novel. He did an amazing job.

The story itself is well thought out – the ending was not at all even remotely what I thought was coming. The murderer was someone I did not even see coming and it was a curveball that I loved. Each chapter had something new and I could not stop reading this novel. You just had to know what was happening next.

While it is a horror and there is a some graphic murders, it is actually not as gruesome and descriptive in the deaths as some horror novels that I have read. There is also a good balance between the intense moments with calmer moments as we get to learn more about the characters. Grimm Woods is a fantastic read for horror fans! Happy reading.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

D. Melhoff was born in a prairie ghost town that few people have heard of and even fewer have visited. While most of his stories are for adults, he also enjoys terrifying younger audiences from time to time, as seen in his series of twisted picture books for children. He credits King, Poe, Hitchcock, Harris, Stoker, and his second grade school teacher, Mrs. Lake, for turning him to horror. For more information, visit www.dmelhoff.com.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.